1. Field of the Invention
The invention pertains to collapsible boats. More particularly, the invention pertains to folding boats such as kayaks and canoes that can be quickly set up, quickly broken down, and easily folded flat for storage, transport or shipping.
2. Description of the Related Art
Although high-performance, lightweight personal watercraft are generally well designed for use in water, they are often difficult to transport by vehicle, particularly due to their length. Accordingly, there is a need for watercraft that can be disassembled for transport in small packages and reassembled for use in water.
Collapsible skin-on-frame kayaks, inflatables, and other boats are known in the art. The simplest such boats are inflatable; these rely upon pneumatic tubes to create buoyancy and provide rigidity and shape. Most inflatable boats are typically low performance craft, however, due to the shape limitations imposed by pneumatic tubes.
Another class of collapsible watercraft is the folding boat, which is generally comprised of multiple individual pieces to form an internal frame over which a removable flexible outer skin is stretched taut. The outer skin is typically made from a durable waterproof fabric. When disassembled, the parts are intended to fit in a compact bag. Though portable, this type of boat can take up to 20 minutes or more to assemble, and frame rigidity is a challenge.
See, for example, the collapsible boats disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,065,421 (Haller et al., 2000), U.S. Pat. No. 6,006,691 (Wilce, 1999), U.S. Pat. No. 5,964,178 (Gonda, 1999), U.S. Pat. No. 5,875,731 (Abernathy et al., 1999), U.S. Pat. No. 5,680,828 (Totten, 1997), U.S. Pat. No. 5,615,634 (Gonda, 1997), U.S. Pat. No. 4,911,095 (Kaye, 1990), U.S. Pat. No. 4,841,899 (Fleckles et al., 1989), U.S. Pat. No. 4,821,666 (Ingram, 1989), U.S. Pat. No. 4,751,889 (Pool, 1988), U.S. Pat. No. 4,706,597 (Figone, 1986), U.S. Pat. No. 4,702,193 (Jones et al., 1987), U.S. Pat. No. 4,574,725 (Dowd, 1986), and U.S. Pat. No. 4,274,170 (Simpson, 1981). For example, the frame of the boat disclosed in the above-referenced Fleckles patent (U.S. Pat. No. 4,841,899) is composed of a plurality of short, separable pieces that must all be attached or hooked together, or pieces of the main frame must be inserted into the hull, before the frame is ready for covering by a skin.
Accordingly, it is desirable to provide a rigid-feeling, good-handling boat that also has the ability to quickly convert between flat storage and use modes. Preferably such conversion would take place by quickly xe2x80x9cpopping upxe2x80x9d from the folded mode to the use mode. Flat storage is beneficial for areas where transportation or storage space is limited, such as on board sailing vessels, in apartments, inside automobile trunks, or on bicycle carts. Flat storage also reduces shipping costs.
The boat of the invention comprises a folding internal frame and a flexible outer skin. When not in use, the boat folds in half to a compact shape beneficial for shipment, storage and transport. In alternate embodiments, the boat folds in other fractions such as thirds or quarters, instead of in half.